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Where is Linkedin Going Wrong?

Did you notice the premium Job Seeker service that Linkedin has launched recently?

Apart from being expensive , I think Linkedin is missing a point somewhere.

Linkedin is a great platform where as a professional one can network and create a great professional reputation over time.

Linkedin in that sense is an open platform where professionals openly expose themselves to their peers about their feats and expertise.

Unlike Naukri or Monster-which are closed platforms because people do not expose themselves to their peers. The whole idea about Naukri is privacy, blocking your current company from viewing your profile and so on.

Why would Linkedin introduce a feature wherein it would motivate someone to put up a tag ‘Job Seeker’ on his/her profile?

Beats me! Because the environment of Naukri and Linkedin are different, people go at these places with different objectives and mindsets, even if the objective is to hunt for a job- it’s done differently on a naukri and on a linkedin.

I am not sure why would a professional openly put up a tag ‘Job Seeker’ and appear desperate in front of his peers and other professionals on Linkedin?

Either I am missing the whole big picture or is it Linkedin which is not understanding the power of their open platform and the fact that they seem to be in a hurry to moentize the wrong way.
My take on LinkedIn Monetsiation is this:

If I were Linkedin and if I wanted to focus on creating traction between job-seekers and recruiters (resulting in money for me) I would do the following:

1. Help Job Seekers create reputation for themselves- How can they get more recommendations, how can they answer questions across the ecosystem around their expertise? How can these recommendations and answers be highlighted?

Can we have a search system in which people with higher reputations come on the top of results? How can these recommendations and answers are plugged out of linkedin system?

2. Help create traction between job-seeker and employer- how can we have advanced modes of contacts (videoconf via linkedin), automatic update of job-seeker profile with relevant openings, and alert on which employer is searching for a specific type of talent. (so that even when employers do not post an opening, their search is recorded and thrown at rlevant profile-resulting in more job-seekers automatically connecting with employers proactively)

Can employers similalry get alerted on candidates who are answering specific type of questions, this way they can be sure of finding relevant and fit candidates easily.

Can employers, instead of just posting jobs, ask questions and check expertise via answers on specific issues? Can they get a complete package of questions, job postings, candidate alerts, reference check, referrals etc. to cover their entire lifecycle?

There are many such things that can be intelligently done to create traction in an innovative way that compliments Linkedin fabric.

As of now, it looks very mundane, half-hearted, un-innovative approach by linkedin to crack job-seekers market!

(I have not experienced the premium job seeker package from LinkedIn and the above post is my understanding basis Linkedin’s ads and their description page for the service.)